Vincent Riou

PRB

If we had to sum him up in just a few words, Vincent Riou could be called the top all-rounder. He is a sailor, who knows how to do everything: designing, developing and fine-tuning boats, an excellent weather analyst, but also a top class technician and a determined and talented racer. The Swiss army knife of Breton sailing, if you like.

Portrait

44 years old - Loctudy - FRANCE

If we had to sum him up in just a few words, Vincent Riou could be called the top all-rounder. He is a sailor, who knows how to do everything: designing, developing and fine-tuning boats, an excellent weather analyst, but also a top class technician and a determined and talented racer. The Swiss army knife of Breton sailing, if you like.

From his childhood in Loctudy – a small village in SW Brittany, where he still lives with his wife and children, Vincent Riou has inherited a keen passion for the sea. It is on the water that “Vincent the terrible” is happiest, doing battle with anything that floats from the dinghies of his childhood to multihulls and not forgetting the Figaro racers and the big IMOCAs.

In 2000, he prepared the winning boat for Michel Desjoyeaux. Four years later, the Vendée based firm PRB offered him the helm on the advice of the Professor. Vincent had a remarkable performance ending up as winner, even though unusually he wasn’t in the lead at Cape Horn. The one that was just in front of him at the rock and who missed out on winning was Jean Le Cam… It was King Jean than gave Vincent his nickname. A link that was to continue as in the 2008 edition, Jean capsized at the Horn and who would rescue him in these hellish conditions? Vincent, of course! The Race Jury awarded him equal third place after this epic rescue. To finish the story, the two men would go on to sail together in the 2013 Transat Jacques Vabre… that they would win. Deeply involved in the IMOCA class (which organises the rules for the Vendée Globe boats), Vincent will be the only previous winner competing. He isn’t in it just for fun, but hopes to follow in the footsteps of Desjoyeaux by becoming a two time winner of the Vendée Globe a feat solely achieved by Mich Desj’. For the moment.
Vincent won everything last year aboard his extremely well tuned PRB, in particular with a victory in the Transat Jacques Vabre… For the four leading lights in the IMOCA class, he is the man to beat.

Monocoque IMOCA

IMOCA60 PRB

While originally launched in March 2010, PRB underwent so much work in 2014 that the famous number 85 (the fifth IMOCA to bear the name of the Vendée firm) is practically a new boat. Everything was looked at and worked on from the keel to the daggerboards and rudders, so that the boat matches her skipper: fast, reliable and a good all-rounder. She is one of the narrowest in the fleet, but has advantages in weight to make up for her very slight lack of power. A fantastic boat that is capable of anything. PRB won everything in 2015, a season during which she was the reference for all the skippers in the IMOCA class. Fine-tuning is ongoing with more work being done before the start of the Transat. According to her skipper, PRB is “probably one of the easiest boats to sail in the whole fleet.” This is largely due to the ratio of weight to power, as he is a light boat, requiring relatively little sail to reach her optimum performance levels.

Boat

Technical Sheet

Boat

Technical Plan

Sponsor

PRB

Since 1992, PRB has been a historic Vendée Globe sponsor as well as the one with the most titles with two victories. Both its sports achievements and its economic success have to be underlined since the Vendée-based company has turned front wall coating into art. As the first independent coating manufacturer, PRB has developed a large range of products that can be used at any stage of the construction process.